


Miraculous Ladybug: Tales of Cat Noir, Marigold, and (unfortunately) Scarlet Lady

by Starry_Nighttime



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, F/M, Gen, Marigold AU, Miraculous Ladybug - Freeform, Reverse Crush (Miraculous Ladybug), SL AU, Scarlet Lady AU, Stolen Miraculouses (Miraculous Ladybug), reverse crush, this is my first time writing on Ao3 so please send feedback!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:48:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24363061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starry_Nighttime/pseuds/Starry_Nighttime
Summary: My take on @zoe-oneesama‘s Scarlet Lady AU. Please note that this is my first time writing on Ao3 so if I am doing something wrong let me know!
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 11
Kudos: 117





	1. Chapter 1

Marinette was bored.

Ever since Cat Noir told her that she had to stop intervening with akuma fights, she spent afternoons laying down on her bed and staring at the ceiling. It just wasn’t fair, Cat Noir’s “partner” did absolutely nothing to contribute to akuma fights except to swoop in at the end and take all of the credit. Marinette wished she could do something about it, but she couldn’t. 

“Marinette! Breakfast!” Her mom calls from downstairs, pulling Marinette out of her slumber. She swings her legs out of bed, throws on some clothes, and goes downstairs. 

“Hi, mom.” She kisses her mother on the cheek and takes a bite out of her croissant. Sabine smiles. 

“I have another croissant and a coffee for you to take to school.” Marinette finishes her breakfast and smiles. 

“Thanks, Mom!” She hops out of her chair and, after kissing her dad on the cheek, she picks up the baked goods and runs out the store. While running to school, she bumps into an old man wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt, causing him to nearly fall over. Marinette yelps and catches his hand before he hits the ground. 

“I’m so sorry, mister! I didn’t see you!” The old man smiles, a twinkle in his eyes.

“It’s okay, young lady. Thank you for helping me.” He says, putting his hand over Marinette’s. He turns around and Marinette notices… he put something in her palm. Confused, she turns around to question the man… but he’s gone, already. Almost as if he had vanished. She looks at the little box and puts it in her bag. Whatever it is, it probably isn’t for the public eye. 

Adrien lays his head on his desk, tired, and worked to the bone. Being a superhero with a modeling gig along with school and extracurriculars was a lot to juggle. It wouldn’t be as much if his “partner” actually did some of the work instead of taking selfies and checking her makeup. Suddenly, he hears a little tap on his desk and he looks up to see an angel with all of her pig-tailed glory sliding a coffee his way. 

“Good morning, Adrien,” Marinette says, smiling and making the entire room brighter. He stared into her ocean-blue eyes, getting lost in them and not noticing her call out his name until- “-Adrien!” she exclaims, rapping the table, jolting him back to reality. 

“Um-huh? What?” Marinette laughs a little bit, causing his head to spin a little. She holds up a white paper bag. 

“I was asking if you wanted this croissant.” Adrien shakes off his dizziness and nods. 

“Oh! Yes, sorry. I was looking at… um, I forgot.” Marinette’s cheeks turn a little pink, but she keeps on smiling and slides the croissant his way. 

“Remember, we have a study session this afternoon.” He nods a little too enthusiastically. 

“I can’t wait!” Marinette raises an eyebrow slightly like she wasn’t expecting such enthusiasm for a study session. Nonetheless, she smiles and walks to her seat behind him. Adrien opens the bag and wonderful smells of baked goods waft out of it. He feels a nudge in his shoulder and he turns to look at his best friend. 

“Dude, are you willing to share? I didn’t have breakfast this morning.” Adrien closes the bag protectively. He hears Marinette’s tinkling laugh behind him and they shift to look at her. 

“There’s a second one in there for you, Nino.” She says knowingly. Adrien opens the bag and, sure enough, there were two croissants inside. He hands one to Nino and pulls out the other one for himself. Nino holds the croissant longingly. 

“Woah, Dudette. You’re so awesome. How did you know I didn’t have breakfast this morning?” 

“Because she has everyone’s schedule hanging in her room, that’s why!” A cheery voice exclaims behind them. Alya slides into her seat next to her bff. Marinette shrugs sheepishly. 

“I like to know what’s going on with my classmates. Like, I knew that Nino had a late-night DJ gig and would most likely not have breakfast this morning, so I made sure to pack an extra croissant for him.” She shrugs it off as if it were common knowledge, but Adrien’s heart does a little tap-dance. 

He loved this girl.

After classes, Marinette meets Adrien in the library. They study together for a little bit (Marinette doesn’t notice Adrien’s sneaky arm around her chair) but studying eventually turns into conversations about the superheroes. 

“Yeah, I don’t get why so many people like Scarlet Lady so much. She doesn’t even do anything! Cat Noir does all of the work while Scar just sits around and takes selfies!” Marinette exclaims, chuckling. Adrien’s heart starts thumping again, but he tries to ignore it. 

“I know! I thought I was the only one who noticed that! I mean, sure Scarlet Lady cleanses the damage that was done and whatnot, but she doesn’t really do anything else except fix her makeup.” Marinette sighs. 

“I wish I could help out with akumas more, but Cat Noir keeps on telling me to stop. I know it’s for my own safety and stuff, but I just hate seeing him do it all alone when I know I can do things.” Adrien blushes a little bit. 

“Marinette, I-“ He gets cut off when Chloe runs in, screaming. 

“Help me! There’s an invisible being chasing me!” Adrian and Marinette look at each other, but before they can question it, books start flying around the library. Marinette quickly grabs Adrien’s hand and pulls him out of the library, shutting the door behind her. 

“What the heck was that?!” Marinette exclaims. Adrien gulps. 

“Akuma, I think. Probably someone who has it in for Chloe.” Marinette snorts. 

“Who doesn’t?” Adrien chuckles, but then, he remembers. He has to fight the akuma! He looks back at the library. “You should probably go hide, Mari.” She gives him a look. 

“Me? What about you!?” 

“I’m… gonna see if there’s any students left so no one else gets hurt.” He says. Marinette pauses, then kisses him. On the cheek, but Adrien’s face still heats up. Marinette smiles. 

“Stay safe, Adrien.” She runs off, leaving Adrien frozen with a dumbfounded look on his face. Plagg flies out if his shirt, grinning. 

“Uh-oh..” Adrien looks at him. 

“What?” 

“Somebody’s in love!” Adrien blushes. 

“Marinette’s just… a friend.” 

“Uh-huh.” the kwami mutters, not buying it. 

“If that’s so, why are you just standing here when there’s an akuma in the library?” Adrien gasps. 

“Oh, right! Plagg, claws out!” 

“We will talk about this laaaattteeerrr!!” Plagg shouts as he gets sucked into the ring. 

Marinette runs into an empty classroom, breathing heavily. She drops her bag on the floor and the little box that the old man gave her tumbles out. Tentatively, she picks it up and holds it in her hand. Was this a good idea? A gift from a strange man she didn’t know? How important were the contents inside? Giving into her curiosity, she lifts the lid to reveal a yellow hair comb with a bee on it. However, she wasn’t expecting the glowing orb to come out of the hairpiece, causing her to nearly drop the box. A small bee-like creature materializes in front of her and stretches out it’s tiny paws. It’s actually… quite cute. The creature opens its eyes and speaks. 

“Greetings, my queen. My name is Pollen and I am your kwami.” Marinette stares at the creature. 

“What?” The kwami chuckles. 

“No worries, I am sure this is all quite confusing, but I will explain everything.”

Cat Noir leaps onto the roof of the hotel where Chloe lived. If anyone knew about this akuma, she would. Unfortunately (or fortunately) Scarlet Lady didn’t accomany him because she had “more pressing matters to attend to”. He was just about to go inside when he heard someone screaming behind him. He turned to see an impossibly large pigeon flying through the air. 

“aaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!” It screamed, landing right on top of him. “Ow.” It sat up, revealing itself to not be a pigeon, but a girl. The girl gasped when she saw him. 

“Ohmigosh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to land on top of you!” She exclaimed, leaping up and extending her hand. “Are you okay?” Confused, Cat Noir took her hand and stood up. 

“I-yeah, I’m fine. Who are you, exactly?” 

“I’m uh—ack!” she retracts the string on her weapon, causing it to bounce on her head. “Mari-erm… gold. Yeah, Marigold.” Cat Noir wasn’t sure what to make of this new heroine. She seemed kind enough, especially compared to Scarlet Lady, but he was still skeptical. 

“So, Marigold, what are you doing here?” he asked the yellow-clad girl, who was struggling to open her weapon (a spinning top). She manages to open it and scrolls through it. 

“Well, right now I’m trying to find the Users’ Guide my kwami told me about so I can actually help you heroes.” Cat Noir raises an eyebrow. 

“Help? Wait… Users’ Guide?” Marigold nods, only half-listening. 

“Yeah, and it says here that my special power can immobilize people.” 

“And you’ll only have about 5 minutes until you change back after you use it.” Cat Noir said, helpfully. 

“Ooh! Apparently the miraculous enhances all physical abilites! That’ll come in handy.” Cat Noir released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. This new heroine was actually here to help him. And she was a real hero, with a miraculous and everything. 

“So, do you wanna…” he gestures at the door. Marigold nods and straps her weapon to her waist. 

“Right. I came here to interview Chloe and fight a villian, not fall on top of the cute cat hero… did I say that out loud?” Cat Noir chuckles. 

“I’m flattered.”

After their less-than-informative interview with Chloe, Marigold slumps in the elevator. 

“She’s hiding something.” Cat Noir sighs. 

“Well, what are we gonna do? She’s the only one with possible information about the akuma.” Marigold rubs her chin, then brightens. 

“Not the only one! When in doubt, ask the butler!” Cat Noir grins. 

“Brilliant!”

When Scarlet Lady finally decides to show her face, Cat Noir is holding a squirming Vanisher in place. 

“Venom!” Marigold shouts, pricking the invisible girl with her stinger. Vanisher freezes up and the two heroes search her for the akuma. 

“It’s in her pin!” Scarlet Lady calls, walking over. Marigold rips the pin off of Vanisher’s sweater and crushes it under her foot. Scarlet Lady snags the purple butterfly in her yo-yo. 

“Took you long enough.” Scarlet mutters. Marigold grits her teeth. 

“But you didn’t-“ 

“Thanks, Scar.” Cat Noir interrupts, placing a hand on Marigold’s shoulder. Recieving the message, Marigold swallows her rage and walks over to a confused-looking Sabrina. 

“I.. what happened?” she asks, looking around. Marigold places a hand on her shoulder. 

“You were akumatized by Hawk Moth, but everything’s okay now.”

The news was buzzing about this new superhero, Marigold. Where did she come from? Who was behind the mask? How did she get her powers? Was she stung by a radioactive bee? Marinette watches the news with Pollen sitting on her shoulder, eating a honey biscuit. 

“I can’t believe I did all of that, Pollen!” She says, excitedly. Pollen smiles at her holder. 

“I am so happy you enjoyed it, my Queen, but I must ask: Why did you decide to comfort the victim over going to the press?” Marinette looks back at her computer. 

“Because it was the right thing to do. Besides, I’m a little camera shy. Why do you ask?” Pollen takes another bite from her biscuit. 

“Well, your partner in red seems to always go to the press and create fabricated answers to make herself look better and make you and your partner in black look worse. Why not clear the air?” Marinette sighs. 

“Scarlet Lady has been a superhero much longer than I have and she holds the press in the palm of her hand. If I all of a sudden jump out and call her a liar, she could very easily turn everything onto me and make herself the victim. I’ll let the press make their own conclusions.”

For the first time in months, Adrien relaxed. He was no longer the only superhero actually doing things. Marigold helped him when Scar refused to. She was simply… amazing. Not as amazing as Marinette, but pretty close. 

As more and more people got akumatized, Marigold and Cat Noir always stepped up to help them. It was because of this that the press started noticing that Scarlet Lady almost never did any of the work. She was always in the back, checking her makeup and doing her nails. People started to wonder, who was the real hero all along? The press kept on trying to get interviews with Marigold and Cat Noir, but they were always busy comforting the akumatized person. The only person who had any luck was a young reporter named Alya Cesaire, who had managed to snag a private interview with the bee heroine herself. Things were looking up.

Adrien walks up the steps and into the school building when he hears Marinette and Alya talking quietly. 

“-just don’t want to be a burden to Adrien, Alya.” He hears Marinette say. Adrien stifles a gasp. Is Marinette being a burden? Not possible! She was the girl who helped lift his burden! Adrien presses his back against the opposite wall to listen in. 

“C’mon, girl! You like Adrien and Adrien likes you, so-“ 

“I don’t like Adrien!” Marinette interrupts, then she takes a breath. “I mean, I don’t like him in that way. It’s only a small crush, if anything.” 

“Small crushes can turn into something much bigger!” Alya reminds Marinette in a singsong voice. Adrien’s heart starts hammering against his chest. Marinette just sighs. 

“Even if it does, I don’t want to add to Adrien’s burden by giving him a girlfriend to take care of. He’s already worked to the bone with fencing, Chinese, modeling-“ part-time superhero Adrien thinks to himself. Marinette continues. “I mean, you’ve seen him yourself. Every morning he has his head on his desk with dark circles under his eyes!” 

“Yeah, and then you walk in with coffee and a croissant and he’s smiling like he’s just won the lottery.” Alya says, a smirk in her voice. 

“H-he’s just… grateful!” Marinette stutters. Alya snorts. 

“Yeah. He’s grateful for you. If it were anyone else delivering those baked goods, he wouldn’t be grinning for the entire day! Face it, girl! Adrien is head over heels for you.” Marinette sighs again. 

“Do you really believe that? Do you really think that Adrien is in love with… me?” Adrien wants to leap out and scream Yes! I’m in love with you and I’ve been in love with you since the first week of school! But he stays rooted where he is and keeps on listening. 

“Listen, Marinette,” Alya says, suddenly serious. “You can believe what you want. Maybe Adrien just sees you as a friend and nothing more, but I can’t deny what I’ve seen with my own 2 eyes. He has feelings for you, girl.” Alya walks off and Adrien hears Marinette slide down the wall and sit on the floor. He pauses, then walks around the wall to face her. 

“Marinette? Are you okay?” She jumps a little bit at the sound of his voice. 

“Oh, Adrien! W-what are you doing here?” Adrien gulps, not wanting to admit that he had just listened to her private conversation with Alya. 

“I-uh was just walking by and saw you sitting against the wall.” He says, lamely, kneeling down to her level. Marinette relaxes her shoulders. 

“I’m okay, just… going through a lot right now.” Adrien shifts uncomfortably. 

“Do you want to talk about it? I mean, you always help everyone with their problems, the least I can do is listen to you talk about yours.” Marinette smiles a little bit. 

“Thanks, Adrien, but I’m not ready to talk about it just yet.”


	2. Chapter 2

Chloe was furious. The attention was always on the two useless sidekicks instead of on her, which is where it should have been! She kicked, screamed, cried, and pouted up a storm, but there was nothing she could do. Or was there…

Marinette was excited. She was actually going to see her hat on the runway! It made her giddy just thinking about it.  
“Pollen, I just can’t believe it!” she squealed for the millionth time. 

“I am very excited for you, my q- Marinette.” Pollen buzzed happily as Marinette dug through her closet. “May I ask what you are looking for?” 

“My other sh- found it!” Marinette exclaimed, holding up a pink, strappy heel. 

“Marinette, are you ready?” her mom’s muffled voice called from downstairs. 

“Yeah, mom!” Marinette called back, shoving her foot into the shoe and rushing downstairs. Her dad pulled her into a tight hug when he saw his  
daughter. 

“My little girl is all grown up and showing her amazing work to the world!” He cried, proudly. When he finally let go, Sabine was waiting patiently at the door. 

“Come on! We don’t want to be late!”

Adrien straightens his jacket nervously. 

“How do I look, Plagg?” he asks, turning to look at himself in the mirror. The kwami grunts. 

“If I say yes, will you stop asking me?” 

“But I want to make sure I look good tonight!” 

“Why?” Plagg snickers. “You wanna look good for Pigtails?” Adrien blushes and straightens his tie. Plagg sighs. “Kid, you look fine. Can we go now?” Suddenly, someone knocks on the trailer door. 

“Come in!” Adrien calls as Plagg zooms out of sight. The door opens and Marinette steps inside the trailer, but… it was a Marinette he’d never seen before. She was wearing a short, but still very elegant, pink lacey dress with a black belt. Her hair was loose on her shoulders, which only made her look more beautiful. She waves nervously. 

“Hi, Adrien. I’m just here to drop off the hat and wish you luck!” She says, holding up a hat box. Adrien tries to ignore the blush creeping up to his cheeks. 

“Oh, right! Thanks.” He says, taking the hat out of the box. Marinette smiles as he puts it on. 

“So… are you going to model it for me?” Adrien blinks. 

“What, now?” Marinette nods. 

“Yes, now! Show me how you walk the walk! Fash-ion show! Fash-ion show!” She chants, bouncing a little. Adrien chuckles 

“Well, if the lady insists…” He does his best model walk to the end of the trailer, then turns and does a quick pose. Marinette claps happily. 

“Wow! You have the catwalk down!” Adrien feels himself blush for the hundredth time. 

“I-thank you.” He stutters. Marinette walks over to the mirror and leans on the little table in front of it. 

“I’m honestly really nervous” she admits. “Audrey Bourgeois is in the audience and she’s, like, the biggest name in fashion! She could end my designing career before it even begins!” Adrien pauses, then walks over to stand next to Marinette in front of the mirror. 

“You’re super talented, Marinette. I wouldn’t be standing here, next to you, wearing a hat that you made and designed if that weren’t true. I think it’s awesome; so does my father. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have picked it for me.” Marinette takes a deep breath and turns to look at him. 

“Okay, you’re right. Maybe I am overthinking this. I just need to let today happen and face the consequences tomorrow.” Adrien smiles. 

“Exactly.” They stand there in silence for a little bit. Their faces were so close, Adrien could smell her cherry lip gloss. Did Marinette always have that little freckle under her left eye? Adrien resisted the urge to touch it. Suddenly, the trailer door swings open, causing the teens to jump back, unfortunately for Marinette. Her foot caught on something, sending her flying backward onto the floor. 

“Ow…” “Marinette! Are you okay?” Adrien cries, helping her up. Marinette chuckles. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Probably should have thought twice before wearing heels, though…”

“Ahem” Nathalie coughs, pulling out a clipboard. “Sorry to interrupt, but Adrien, the show is about to start. Miss Dupain-Cheng, I am to escort you to your seat.” Marinette gulps, then nods. 

“Okay. See you on the catwalk, Adrien.”

As soon as Marinette saw Audrey Bourgeois she fought off a grimace. Oh, god, there’s two of them. When the Fashion Queen sat down next to her, Marinette knew she was in for a long night.

**A/N Chloe’s mom isn’t going to become akumatized in this story because A) I am too lazy to write it, B) Gabriel is taking a day off from being Hawk Moth to be there for his son, and C) It didn’t make much sense that Marinette’s friends were invited to a private event, so I am writing them out of this part of the story (sorry, Alya!).**

After the show, Marinette meets up with Adrien in the entry hall. 

“That was amazing!” She cries, hugging him. 

“Excuse me.” a haughty voice calls from behind them. Marinette turns to see Audrey Bourgeois walking over with Chloe close behind her. Without a warning, she takes the hat off of Adrien’s head and inspects the brim. 

“This hat is not a Gabriel Agreste. Are you responsible for that?” She asks, looking at Marinette in an intimidating manner. Marinette gulps. 

“Um…” she looks nervously at Adrien, who flashes her a thumbs up. “Stand proud!” Marinette takes a deep breath and nods. “I… I’m the one who created it.” 

“Miss Dupain-Cheng won a fashion design competition at her school.” Gabriel says, appearing behind Marinette, making her jump a little. Audrey lifts her glasses to get a better look at the hat. 

“It’s the most…” Marinette shrinks, anticipating shame as Chloe smirks. “…exceptional thing I’ve ever seen! You’re a visionary, Marinette!” Audrey exclaims, placing the hat back onto Adrien’s head. Marinette gasps happily. 

“R-really?!”  
“Of course! Glitter’s had its day, feathers are the trend of tomorrow!” 

“She does have talent.” Gabriel says, smiling at Marinette. Audrey studies Marinette with interest. 

“You want to be a fashion designer, right?” Marinette nods nervously. 

“Y-yes ma’am.” Audrey spreads her arms wide. 

“Then come to New York with me! I can make you the biggest name in fashion! I’m sure you’ll even-” 

“-WHAT?!” Chloe screams angrily. “This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! I’ve never been to New York with you and you’re taking Dupain-Cheng?!” 

“I’m taking her because she’s exceptional Claudette. Uh— Chloé.” Chloe gasps and stamps her foot. 

“I’m exceptional too!!” Audrey inspects her gloved hand. 

“The only exceptional thing about you, my dear… is your mother.” Marinette and Adrien grimace. Chloe growls and throws off her sunglasses. 

“Ugh! I’ll show you how exceptional I can be!” she smirks and strikes a pose.

“Tikki, spots on!” 

**Hi! So... here's the thing... I'm probably not going to continue this fic. I'm so sorry to everyone who was getting their hopes up over this cliffhanger, but if I'm being honest, I don't think I can write this in any way that won't make it come off as a canon clone. If I come up with any ideas, I might open up this fic again. But for now, I am officially declaring this story as discontinued. If you like my writing and want to see more, feel free to check out my Tumblr @starrynighttime. Again, I am sorry to everyone who was getting their hopes up over this fic.**


End file.
